Tenchi Masaki
Tenchi Masaki (柾木 天地, Masaki Tenchi) is the main protagonist of the Tenchi Muyo! metaseries. Tenchi's name means 'Heaven and Earth'. It is the same as 'Tenchi' in the Shinto Kojiki which contains some of Japan's oldest myths and legends. In every Tenchi series, Tenchi is a normal boy until six alien girls arrive or crash-land at his house. Some or all of the girls (depending on the continuity), fall in love with him, with him accepting none of their advances as a gentleman and just plain indecisiveness about who he truly has romantic feelings for. ''Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki In the official OVA-based continuities, Tenchi Masaki is an ordinary boy living in rural Okayama, Japan with his widowed father, Nobuyuki. He is a compassionate, humble, noble, level-headed, respectful young man training with his grandfather as a Shinto priest and as a swordsman. 6 girls arrive at his house throughout the course of the series, with all of them expressing romantic interest in the young (but innately powerful) boy. Throughout the series, Tenchi learns hidden truths about himself, his role in the universe, and just how powerful and significant he actually is. In episode 19 of OVA 3, when brought to the question of what he lives for, images of the girls flash in his head before he has time to answer the god-like entity in the form of himself. OVA 1 Tenchi initially lives in the city with his father to attend school and visits his grandfather's shrine every summer, where he trains to become a Shinto priest and learns his family's special style of swordsmanship (which unbeknownst to Tenchi happens to be particular to members of the Royal Family of the planet Jurai). Tenchi's grandfather, Katsuhito Masaki, always told him a legend about a warrior who defeated a demon and trapped her within the family shrine. With playful urging by his grandpa, Tenchi goes into the shrine and awakens the "demon," Ryoko Hakubi, who in a fit of rage enhanced by 700 years of being locked up, attacks Tenchi. After ending her attack on Tenchi, Ryoko attempts to seduce him in order to receive her gems that are attached to the sword that he found in the shrine. Shortly after, Juraian Princesses Ayeka and Sasami arrive on Earth to capture Ryoko and to find their missing brother Yosho, who was last known to have chased Ryoko off of the planet Jurai (making him the "warrior" of Katsuhito's legend). During the ordeal, Princess Ayeka is shocked to discover that Tenchi is in possession of the Master Key, Yosho's sword also called "Tenchi". After Ayeka notices that Tenchi is able to use its power, she determines that they are related by noble blood. Tenchi also makes friends with Ayeka's little sister Sasami, and they begin their older brother/little sister relationship. The house is permanently relocated next to the shrine after the battle between Ryoko and Ayeka. Both girls fall in love with Tenchi during their stay at his home. Tenchi no longer attends school after the high school was decimated during the encounter with Ryoko in OVA 1. Shortly after the arrivals of Ryoko, Ayeka, and Sasami, ditzy Galaxy Police detective Mihoshi Kuramitsu joins the extended Masaki family as well. Subsequently, Tenchi suffers a great deal of stress as he tries his hardest to be a gentleman while most of the women within the household will take the opportunity to display their attraction for him. Though Tenchi refuses to get intimate with them, he treats them all like family willing to risk his life for each and every one of them. More serious trouble comes for Tenchi, when ruthless space pirate or "Ruins Buster" Kagato arrives in order to take claim of Ryoko. Tenchi, after learning his grandfather's true identity as the Juraian prince Yosho, sacrifices his life in order to rescue her. During the climax of the battle when Tenchi is thought to be dead (and his actual death still has yet to be unconfirmed), both Ayeka and especially Ryoko reveal their true love for Tenchi, both of them going after Kagato in a suicidal battle to the death. After his life is saved by the mysterious divine entity Tsunami, it is revealed that Tenchi can generate three Light Hawk Wings, the most potent sources of energy in the universe, which are usually only created by the most powerful Juraian Royal Treeships. OVA 2 In OVA 2, after the battle with Kagato, Tenchi welcomes new houseguest, scientist Washu Hakubi, who not only takes a huge interest in Tenchi because of his innate power, but also desires for him and only him to give her a child. Ryoko, Ayeka, Sasami, Washu, and Mihoshi all declare their feelings for Tenchi in this set of OVAs and Tenchi's life just keeps getting more interesting. Additionally, vague foreshadowings are given as to why Tenchi is as innately powerful as he is, especially upon the arrival of Zero, a robot who becomes an exact duplicate of Ryoko on the orders of the sinister Dr. Clay who is in the service of divine entity Tokimi who wishes to kidnap Washu for mysterious reasons. Lady Tokimi wonders as to why her sister, Washu is not only living with this boy in a "lower dimension," but also why he can conjure the Light Hawk Wings by his own power. OVA 3 In the third OVA, Tenchi is shocked to discover that he has an older sister, Tennyo Masaki. 80 year old Tennyo arrives to introduce Tenchi's official fiancee, Noike Kamiki Jurai. The "marriage" was arranged by Jurai's political advisor, Seto Kamiki Jurai, who in reality commissioned Noike to monitor the Masaki house as it has the highest concentration of power in the universe, thanks to all its inhabitants. Tenchi is also introduced to his grandmother, Airi Masaki. Amidst all the chaos, Tenchi learns from his grandfather Katsuhito, that since Earth is a developing civilization, the Masaki clan must keep their true identities hidden since they do not age at the same rate as Earthlings, and those who are born into the Masaki family on Earth are kept from the secrets until they come of age. During all of this news and confusion, Mihoshi's jealous brother Misao creates a master plan to kill Tenchi whom he thinks is hosting a harem, with his sister being his sex slave. After that battle and confusion is settled, Tenchi's life and the universe are once again threatened as Z, a man, who like Tenchi, can generate Light Hawk Wings, attacks Tenchi. During the battle with Z, truths are revealed including more information about Tenchi's true nature. Tenchi is revealed to be a "potential," a person who can wield power said to be beyond that of the three Chousin Goddesses - Washu, Tsunami, and Tokimi, who created the universe. For eternity, the three godly sisters have searched for a being superior to them, and Tenchi is revealed to possibly be the avatar of that being. Tenchi's true power is seen when the universe is almost destroyed by the impact of his power, if not contained by the Chousin. After a climactic battle between the three Goddesses, the truth behind everything that has happened was linked to the three. They decided to change the time line in order to repair the damage that they have done, and Tenchi, in his changed time line, doesn't get to meet Noike. However, Noike, along with little cabbit Fuku, traveled into the past and altered the message Mihoshi was to send to her family that initatied all of the trouble (the message was originally altered by Z) so that she would still meet Tenchi. Additionally, in this new timeline, Tenchi can conjure six Light Hawk Wings, instead of his usual three. Tenchi Muyo! GXP Although ''GXP takes place in the official continuity (taking place after the 3rd OVA series), Tenchi doesn't play a major role in this series though his unlucky childhood friend Seina Yamada is the main protagonist. He appears in Episode 17, where Seina comes to his house to see Washu to talk about Fuku, the cabbit that she had given him. Tenchi and Seina discuss their similar troubles with a harem of girls all fighting for them and also show off their superhuman feats with a race. Tenchi showed that he can move incredibly fast during a race with Seina; he can keep up with him despite Seina having drastic Galaxy Police imbued body enhancements and going downhill on a bicycle. Tenchi, as well as the other girls, also appear in a brief cameo in Episode 26 where they attend Seina's wedding. OVA Abilities Tenchi is the most powerful character in the series, but is too young and immature to have full control over his Light Hawk Wings and other abilities. He is a competent swordsman and martial artist, trained by his grandpa, and in the first episode he gains possession of a Master Key called 'Tenchi', also known as Sword Tenchi (Tenchi-ken), that can form a lightsaber-like blade. During the battle with Kagato, Tenchi receives a special ring from Tsunami, that can create a Juraian battlesuit for him and acts as a 'Guardian System', protecting him. Additionally, Tenchi, is capable of superhuman feats thanks to his Juraian blood but has only displayed his more unusual talents during dire situations, such as his duel with Kagato, the escape from a black hole during the battle with Dr. Clay, and the final confrontation with Z. Besides his very special power of generating Light Hawk Wings, Tenchi is able to transform this pure energy into matter (usually in the form of a sword, a shield and battle clothing/armor.) In the final battle of OVA 3, Tenchi discovers that Light Hawk Wings are the manifestations of the Chousin's godly power in this dimension. The extent of Tenchi's powers is unknown. At one point they rage out of control, forcing the Goddesses to step in and prevent a catastrophe (in the new "altered" timeline, when Noike secretly fired the Choubimaru's cannon to collide with the Earth, again to preserve her future, Tenchi projects his Light Hawk Wings to stop it, a total of six wings, rather than the usual three wings he had before the event). Masaki Kajishima, the series creator, has revealed that Tenchi is in fact the avatar of the superior being that the Chousin have been searching for since the beginning of time, though much else has yet to be explained. Tenchi spoke to this "god" during the final confrontation of OVA 3. Airi notes in GXP, that Tenchi has several powers they haven't discovered yet - some examples include his instant teleportation off the planet when Z destroys much of the Earth, his speedy teleportation to Saturn when Z is about to slice him with his Light Hawk Wings, his traveling back in time after being cut in half by Z (as well as after stopping the Chobimaru from destroying Earth,) and his ability to keep up with his friend Seina in a foot race, despite Seina having drastic body enhancements and going downhill on a bicycle. Though Tenchi is not bonded to a Royal Tree, he is considered a contender for the throne of Jurai (determined by election of the four royal families) due both to his status as successor to First Prince Yosho (who was a contender due to his status and 1st Generation Royal Tree) and his singular ability among the Jurai to create Light Hawk Wings on his own. It has also been confirmed that Tenchi will be around for hundreds of thousands of years thanks to his great power. Masaki Kajishima has confirmed that Tenchi and most of the girls will eventually move to Jurai. It has also been revealed that Ayeka and Sasami will one day step down so that Tenchi can assume the throne of Jurai. It is also confirmed that Tenchi will have, at the very least, one child, a son, who is seen talking with Masaki, sister of the first empire of Jurai who came into contact with Tsunami all those millenia ago, sometime in the near future. Tenchi's son will eventually marry Masaki and they will become galactic archaeologists on the request of Washu. So no matter who one's favorite girl is, Tenchi is currently going with the "I'm not choosing a single girl since I like having all the girls around me as family" strategy. Tenchi's "harem" is still intact in GXP episode 17, so he hasn't chosen a single girl. One of the reasons for Tenchi not choosing a single girl is that if he did, chances are the others wouldn't stay, drastically altering the series dynamic. Kajishima has stated that should GXP and OVA 3 do well, that he would consider another series to explore Tenchi's love life. It should be noted that there are plenty of hints from Kajishima that various girls have children (unknown father) and Tenchi has a son (unknown mother). However, Tenchi and the girls are living on Jurai by the time he has a son. Further, the picture of Tenchi's son looks a bit like Washu and the picture of Washu's daughter looks like a combination between Tenchi and Ryoko. Finally, in the 2005 doujinshi Omatsuri Zenjitsu no Yoru - Omake, Kajishima goes a step further and confirms that Tenchi is indeed living with at least some of the girls on Earth and that the relationship had between the girls and Tenchi is VERY close. It also should be noted that ALL of Kajishima's works end with a harem in which the guy marries (or otherwise ends up with) many if not all of the girls from that series. ''Tenchi Universe In the first TV series, ''Tenchi Universe, Tenchi is similar in personality to the Tenchi of the OVA, but is not as powerful as his OVA counterpart. His abilities do not go beyond his use of Tenchi-ken and the power possessed by members of Jurai's Royal Family (and, apparently, the blessing of his royal ancestors should he decide to take Jurai's throne). Sword Tenchi is just a weapon and is not a Master Key; there are no intelligent Royal Trees in the TV series. Tenchi does attend school, but it is a long commute for him because he lives at his family's shrine in the mountains. Tenchi, once again leads an ordinary life until the arrival of Ryoko to his home. Ryoko claims to be being chased by a vicious space pirate who actually turns out to be Galaxy Police detective Mihoshi. After the ordeal, both "alien" girls are stuck at Tenchi's home without any complaints from Ryoko who falls for Tenchi. After the arrival of Ryoko and Mihoshi, Juraian princess Ayeka arrives on Earth after receiving a distress call from Mihoshi. Tenchi gets stuck in the middle of lifelong rivals, Ryoko and Ayeka's constant bickering and excessive fighting only enhanced when Ayeka falls in love with Tenchi as well after taking a tour around the mountains with him. Tenchi graciously welcomes the princess into his home after her spaceship crashes. He does the same for her younger sister Sasami who becomes like a little sibling to Tenchi. After Sasami, comes Washu who the gang accidentally releases from the Masaki Shrine after 700 years of being imprisoned there by the Galaxy Academy for creating weapons of mass destruction. Completing the extended Masaki family is Kiyone Makibi, a new character and Mihoshi's partner who reluctantly comes looking for her ditzy comrade. Tenchi's life becomes adventurous, and chaotic; which in fact, is the main theme of the series as life is supposed to be a carnival and though the life can be a bit off-putting, Tenchi is firmly content with his "carnival" of a life. Unfortunately, the carnival turns disastrous, when Tenchi and his extended family become fugitives in space on the run from the Galaxy Police and the Army of Jurai who are dead set on capturing Princess Ayeka and Sasami for "treason" and Ryoko for her crimes as a space pirate. Tenchi travels with the girls across the universe in order to reach Jurai to find out exactly what is going on. After many adventures through space, Tenchi and the gang finally reach Jurai where the truth about Tenchi's lineage is revealed; his grandfather is actually Yosho, the First Crown Prince of Jurai, which makes Tenchi heir to the throne. Tenchi bravely goes up against Kagato, who has been impersonating Yosho in order to become emperor. After finding out about his grandfather's true identity and defeating Kagato, Tenchi chooses to turn down the Jurai throne and head back to Earth, after realizing that like his grandfather before him he wants to live a simple life without much responsibility. However, Tenchi becomes bored with living on Earth again without the girls around, but is surprised when they return and Ryoko reminds Tenchi that although a carnival would eventually leave, it would always come back again. .]] After being defeated by the Jurai Emperor and the Galaxy Police centuries ago, the monstrously powerful Super A-1 class criminal Kain was imprisoned in the subspace room of the GP's headquarters, never to be released. In the present (established to be 1996, the year of the film's release), Kain escapes his bonds, destroys the GP space station, and travels back in time to take his revenge on Jurai's royal family. The Galaxy Police only has time to send a short warning, which Mihoshi and Kiyone intercept. The Masaki house, the shrine, and Tenchi himself all begin to fade out of existence. Washu theorizes that someone is tampering with the established timeline, and uses a shield to keep Tenchi from vanishing. The shield is only a temporary solution, so Washu sends the rest of the group back to 1970 to prevent Kain from killing Tenchi's mother Achika Masaki. Tenchi's friends assume roles at Tenchi's father Nobuyuki and Achika's high school, while Tenchi himself stays hidden to prevent causing a paradox. Tenchi and his friends must also deal with a rogue GP operative bent on seizing glory by killing Kain. After determining the exact time that Kain strikes in 1970, the group tries to defend Achika, only to see the villain escape into subspace with her and Nobuyuki. Tenchi, Ayeka and Ryoko follow and challenge Kain, but even with their powers boosted by Washu they are no match for him. Washu sends a powerful "dimensional cannon" from the present, and Kiyone mans the weapon to destroy Kain. Tenchi is wounded, and Achika unlocks her latent Jurai powers to fuel his sword and deal a crippling blow to Kain. The group barely escapes in time before the dimensional cannon is fired into their pocket of subspace, finally destroying Kain. Before her memory is wiped along with Nobuyuki's, Achika asks Ryoko and Ayeka to take care of Tenchi, since she will not be there for him in their present. In the second movie and final installment of the ''Universe continuity, Tenchi Forever!, after a normal day at the shrine, a stressed out Tenchi tries to get away from Ayeka and Ryoko's constant bickering. Tenchi wanders into the forest and disappears. Six months later it is revealed that he got sucked into a tree, the grave of Katsuhito's ex-girlfriend Haruna. Haruna has married Tenchi, and Tenchi has no memory of Ayeka, Ryoko or the rest. Ryoko, Ayeka, Mihoshi and Kiyone all try to find him in and rescue him from this new world. In contrast to the OVA continuity where Tenchi is indecisive about which girl he truly wants to be with romantically, it is obvious that Ryoko holds a special place in Tenchi's heart and that if he had to choose he would most certainly choose her, though this isn't verbally stated during the series. It is hinted at during their various intimate conversations throughout the series and the fact that in Tenchi Forever!, even with his memory gone Tenchi constantly draws rough sketches of Ryoko and Ryoko only. ''Tenchi in Tokyo In the second TV series, ''Tenchi in Tokyo, Tenchi's personality and background are different. He has no connections to Jurai and the sword is created from seven gems which he inherited from his late mother. As this series started out intended to be a continuation of Tenchi Universe, the girls are all with Tenchi in the house already by the start of the series. However, this was soon abandoned, and episode 7 is used as a flashback episode, revealing that one night, Ryoko and Washu came down to Earth trying to escape with the Jurai Light Stone which they'd stolen, with Kiyone, Mihoshi, Ayeka, and Sasami by proxy in hot pursuit, leading all six of them to end up at the woods near the Shrine and house. In the ensuing hijinks, Ryoko ends up absorbing the Light Stone and transforming into a monstrous form around the same time as Tenchi ends up seeing the commotion and meeting the girls, and the gem sword awakens itself as a weapon, with Tenchi forced to use it against Ryoko in self-defense, presumably almost killing her. After Tenchi nursed the girls and especially Ryoko back to health, Ryoko had separated the gems to prevent the sword from being used against her again. Each of the six girls took one of the gems as a keepsake. However, in the first episode of the series, Tenchi moved to Tokyo to train as a Shinto priest under a friend of his grandfather's, hence the series' title. Eventually, due to the chaos surrounding the girls' visits, along with Tenchi's blooming relationship with classmate Sakuya Kumashiro which did not go over well with Ryoko and Ayeka at all, Tenchi got tired of the girls coming over and ordered them never to disturb him again. This led to the house growing apart and the girls going in at least four separate directions midway through the series. At the end of the series, Tenchi finds out that his family are the Planet Guardians whose job is to protect the planet from evil forces when the need arises. Although it was hard for Tenchi after learning about Sakuya's true identity as a manifestation of the warped mutant Juraian Yugi's shadow, Tenchi was able to unite the gems together and chose to confront Yugi alone, feeling that he was partly responsible for what happened. With some help from Ryoko, Ayeka, Mihoshi, and Kiyone, Tenchi caught up to Yugi and chose to spare her and give her a second chance. Tenchi explained she should have come to the Masaki Shrine in the first place and become friends with him and the others rather than to wallow away in loneliness. After the final battle, Tenchi moves back to the Masaki Shrine, Yugi agreeing to be sealed in the cave. ''Pretty Sammy'' ''Magical Girl Pretty Sammy In the ''Pretty Sammy OAV series, Tenchi Kawai (河合 天地, Kawai Tenchi) (as he is known in the show) is Sasami's older brother and a high school student. He is the center of attention for his classmates, Ryoko Orikasa and Ayeka Takada, to the point where they would fight each other for his affections. When Ryoko and Ayeka were transformed by Pixy Misa into Love Love Monsters, they began to fight over him for their affections, until Pretty Sammy intervened. When Pretty Sammy was having trouble against the Ryoko and Ayeka Love Love Monsters, Tenchi was able to get through to them by apologizing to them for not choosing between them. Even after Sammy turned them back to normal Tenchi still had to deal with Ryoko and Ayeka's bickering as he doesn't understand true love yet. ''Magical Project S In ''Magical Project S (Pretty Sammy TV), he only appears in Episode 12 and is known as Tenchi Masaki, a director of Blue Sky Cool Rangers, a Super Sentai-style TV series. Tenchi was having problems with the production as he was starting out as a director, until Sasami decided to help by guest starring on a Cool Rangers episode as Pretty Sammy. This helped save his career. Sasami developed a crush on him, but was heartbroken, after she learned that Tenchi already has a girlfriend, and that he was moving away when he was given a job offer as a theatrical director. Category:Characters Category:Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki Category:Tenchi Universe Category:Tenchi In Tokyo